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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26625142">Death Knows No Mercy</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZombieGears/pseuds/ZombieGears'>ZombieGears</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Far Cry 5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Abuse of background NPCs tbh, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Canon/OC ship, Gen, Ghosts, Hes Jacobs son lmaoooo, Horror, I should probably mention here that James is a canon character kid, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Character Death, OC backstory, Psychic Seed AU ala ColbaltPhosphene, Questionable Family Dynamics, Supernatural Elements, tags added as we go tbh</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:49:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,299</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26625142</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZombieGears/pseuds/ZombieGears</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Growing up the son of a soon to be herald of a cult sure has it's level of surprises, but nobody mentioned the ghosts that would haunt James along the way. Here's some snapshots of the encounters that left their marks on James, in more ways than one.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Death Knows No Mercy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/16974693">A Cold And Broken Hallelujah</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/CobaltPhosphene/pseuds/CobaltPhosphene">CobaltPhosphene</a>.
        </li>

    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A pretty young woman was the first one. She was deep in the woods of North Carolina with the gum trees and pines. She looked like something out of the old photographs his grandad kept in the photo albums in the living room.</p>
<p>It’d been raining that morning. The smell of wet ozone hung in the air as a six year old darted into the woods after a stray cat. The tabby moved swiftly, silently, away from outstretched hands. Little camouflage rain boots hit every puddle on the way, kicking up mud onto stubby legs and bright red shorts.</p>
<p>“Here kitty,” crooned James. “C’mere.”</p>
<p>He’d always brought home animals, ranging from stray cats and dogs to the fattest and crankiest bullfrogs he could get his tiny hands on. This skinny grey tabby was nothing new. He’d seen the cat hunkered down in his grandad's garage many times. This time he’d actually attempted to catch it. Only, he wasn’t as sneaky as he thought he was. He’d spooked the poor cat, who in turn knocked over cans of paint and boxes of miscellaneous items as it bolted for the open door.</p>
<p>James hadn’t noticed the cat bolted deep into the woods until it was too late. The cat had scampered up a large tree, far from the reach of a grabby child. He stared up at the cat, bottom lip jutted out in a frown. The cat stared back down, ears pinned back and yellow eyes wide in terror. With a huff and a stomp of a small boot, he turned to go back to the house, which he <em>thought</em> shouldn’t be too far away.</p>
<p>It’s familiar white siding was nowhere in sight. All James saw was misty woods, grey and bleak as the sun had started to set. He couldn’t even see the orange property line markers that showed where the Givens’ property ended and the wild woods started. He was <em>lost</em>. Hot tears pricked at his eyes as that realization sat in. Of course, he did the first thing any terrified child would think to do.</p>
<p>He cupped his hand around his mouth and let out a shrieking call of “momma!” The empty woods answered back, and they were getting darker by the minute. He’d begun to backtrack, or he thought he had. Instead, he was wandering deeper into the forest.</p>
<p>A hand gently grasped his shoulder as the smell of lavender perfume cut through the wet forest.</p>
<p>He’d stopped dead in his tracks, turning wide eyed to the source of the hand. A young woman who barely looked twenty five smiled down at him. Despite the mud and rain, her powder blue dress looked clean and crisp. Her honey colored hair was curled and pinned back in an old style he’d never seen, and her bright green eyes shone bright and full of life.</p>
<p>“Are you lost, sweetie?”</p>
<p>He slowly nodded. His mom told him not to speak to strangers, but this lady seemed very kind. Her presence gave him a strong sense of calm.</p>
<p>The woman kneeled down, the hem of her pretty dress dropping to the mud. She took his chin between her thumb and index finger, giving a little squeeze. “I’ll help you out. What’dya say?”</p>
<p>He sniffled and wiped his nose with a hoodie sleeve. “Yes, please”</p>
<p>She chuckled, dropping his chin to hold her hand out. He took it without a second thought, and she stood back up. Her dress was still incredibly clean.</p>
<p>They’d walked for a few minutes hand in hand, completely silent. James had so many questions he wanted to ask, but he didn’t want to be rude. He was just so curious! He began chewing on his bottom lip. After a moment, he looked up at her with his big brown eyes.</p>
<p>“What’s your name?”</p>
<p>The lady let out an amused noise, looking down at him with that nice smile again. “Debbie,” she said. “What about you?”</p>
<p>James looked back at the ground, pulling on his hoodie’s drawstring. He mouthed ‘Debbie’ before looking back up at her. “James, ‘cept my momma and daddy call me Jamie,”</p>
<p>“Well, it’s sure nice to meet you, Jamie,”</p>
<p>He let out a little ‘mhmm’ before hopping straight to the next question. “Why are you here? Are you lost too?”</p>
<p>Debbie’s smile faltered a little, the light going out of her eyes. “You could say that.” Her voice sounded pained. Quiet. “My date left me out here.”</p>
<p>“No way! What a meanie! Why would he do that?”</p>
<p>As Debbie just gave him a sad look, a familiar call cut across the woods. His dad yelling his name. Debbie visibly perked up at that. They were close to the edge of the woods now. His granddad's house was visible through the trees.</p>
<p>“Sounds like someone’s looking for you,” Debbie let go of his hand, giving him a gentle push on the back.</p>
<p>James grinned ear to ear, running towards the clearing. He looked back one last time. “Thank you!” He called as he waved over his shoulder. Debbie looked different now. Her blue dress and golden hair were splattered with red. Her makeup was smeared and running down her face. She looked at him with sad eyes as she waved back at him before disappearing into the mist.</p>
<p>He wanted to turn back to look for her. He started to when two big arms swept up around his torso and picked him up. He’d recognized the camouflage jacket and the jingle of dog tags instantly.</p>
<p>“Dad! The lady!” He cried as he tried to climb out of his father’s arms. He was smearing mud all down the fatigue jacket his dad was wearing as he kicked. “She’s hurt!”</p>
<p>There was a grunt as James’ foot connected a hard blow to his dad’s stomach. “James, stop! Calm down,” he hissed through gritted teeth. He then called for James’ mom. “Melanie! It’s fine, I found him!”</p>
<p>Melanie came sprinting from around the side of the house, dark hair falling from her loose ponytail. She slid to a stop as his dad sat him down on the ground. James tried to run for the woods but was quickly pulled into a hard hug. He couldn’t see much through his mom’s shoulder, but he heard her trying to stop crying. When she finally pulled back, she started looking him over for injuries.</p>
<p>“Oh baby, you had us so worried! Please don’t ever run off like that ever again,” she rattled off, voice still shaking with panic as she turned his head from side to side. “I was so scared you were gone.” She pulled his arms towards her, continuing the injury search when suddenly she just stopped. She looked over his shoulder and towards the garage.<br/>“Jacob? What’re you doing?”</p>
<p>James then turned to see his dad with a big flashlight. He was heading off towards the woods. He didn’t stop walking, but he did answer. “I’m gonna go look for this woman he was screaming his head off about.”</p>
<p>Melanie’s gaze hopped back to him. “What lady, baby? Was there a lady in the woods?” Her voice was calm, but there was a tone of concern in it that even James caught.</p>
<p>He nodded. “Her name’s Debbie. She helped me out of the woods. She was left there and she’s <em>hurt</em>, momma!”</p>
<p>“It’s okay, Jamie. Okay? Your dad’ll find her and we’ll help her, okay?”</p>
<p>An hour later, James watched as his dad came out of the woods alone. He’d looked through another rainfall, uniform and bright red hair soaked to the bone. They never found a woman in the woods, and James never saw Debbie again. His parents were led to believe that it was just an overactive imagination. Child’s play.</p>
<p>James knows better than that.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Ah! Been a long while since I posted something on here. Oopsies. I just wanna give a big ol' shoutout and thank you to ColbaltPhosphene for featuring Jamie here in his fantastic fic, A Cold And Broken Hallelujah, and letting me run wild with a backstory for the big clown. Figured I'd write a little something to help shine a light on James and his situation. I'm not sure how many chapters this'll run, but I do have a vague gameplan in place. Hope y'all enjoy.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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